Prysmian Group’s Director for Marketing & Business Development in Netherlands, Edgar Aker has been appointed as the new President of the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Council Europe. Election of new president was held during the General Assembly in Amsterdam on 22 and 23 April to set the work plan for the coming year. Edgar Aker will chair this position for the next year. Working in the cable industry for 17 years, Edgar has been involved in setting up the broadband initiatives since the first beginning and he helped to strategically realigning his organisation to this new global trend.
Mr. Edgar Aker started his career as a project leader of Vehicle and Access Control in Bavak Beveiligings Group B.V., Hague, before joining in Draka Kabel Nederland in 1998 as senior engineer of product development research and development. He climbed the management ladders to become product manager before moving to marketing in Draka Communications. After the merger of Draka and Prysmian groups, he has been serving as the director of marketing and business development in The Netherlands. From 2014, he has been served as a member of board of directors in Netelcom that represents the interests of suppliers and manufacturers of telecommunications infrastructure business toward the Dutch government and regulators. The member companies of Netelcom represent over 80% of telecommunications infrastructure sales in the Netherlands and provide about 8000 jobs. Netelcom member companies take the lead in achieving international standardization of telecommunications infrastructure technology.
Created in 2004, the FTTH Council Europe is an industry organisation whose mission is to accelerate the availability of optical fiber based, ultra high speed access networks for the benefit of consumers and businesses. The Council consists of more than 150 member companies working together to promote the benefits of fibre access across the continent with the aim of delivering a flow of new services that enhance the quality of life, contribute to a better environment and increase economic competitiveness. Prysmian Group is one of the founding members the European FTTH Council and Edgar Aker has been working in the organisation since 2007 and, since October 2011, has been the Prysmian Group representative in the Board.
In line with Council strategy to accelerate the adoption of FTTH in Europe, Edgar Aker called for action on decision makers and other stakeholders to create a favorable environment for the roll-out of fiber. In the 2015-2016 period FTTH Council Europe will focus on five main activities: creating a business-friendly environment for fiber, overcoming technology neutrality, discussing new business models to accelerate FTTH roll-out including structural separation, ensuring consumer transparency and letting Member States act as anchor clients.
